this is a special election day presentation of "squawk box" your money your vote. >> your votes will help me become the next president of the united states. >> investors wonder what the election results will mean for the moorarkets and the economy. this special presentation of squawk box begins right now. good evening. welcome to the special edition of "squawk box" and the official kickoff of the primetime

coverage of the 2012 presidential election. i'm rebecca quick. it is just after 5:00 eastern on the east coast. we have an exciting two hours ahead. polls in parts of indiana are going to be closing in less than an hour. six other states will close at 7 eastern time. our cnbc team is spread out covering every issue of the race that matters most to your money. scott cohn is in the swing state of ohio. mary thompson is in the state of florida. philip lebeau is spending the night in chicago. the crowd beginning to galtther there. and hampton pearson in boston. and we have cool technological

tricks. michelle caruso-cabrera is monitoring the exit poll and sharing important issues. plus the balance of power on capitol hill. and social media has played a huge role in this campaign season so it is sure to be a popular place tonight. you can join the conversation and tweet us, follow our coverage on twitter. this is just the beginning of our coverage tonight. >> it will be big. we have a great lineup of guests tonight including iowa governor terry branstad and chairman and national bureau of economic research president marty feldstein. and then we have former chairman

and obama fundraiser robert wolf. later former new jersey governor. and then we have jim cramer with his take on tonight's election and ask what the results mean for various sectors and find out how he thinks you should be positioning your portfolio. >> we all understand the national polls would show obama and romney in a virtual dead heat. tonight it will come down to swing states. scott cohn is in columbus. >> no republican has ever won the white house without winning ohio which explains why mitt romney has been here twice in the last 24 hours. the democrats rpant taking this state for granted either. president obama in columbus last night at a rally attended by about 15,000 people. all of this has gotten the

voter's attention. heavy turnout as well as precincts across the state in republican areas. ohio senator rob portman a backer of governor romney thinks the high turnout will help his candidate. >> everyone is saying as goes ohio and so goes the country. i feel good about today. >> reporter: ted strickland is predicting an obama victory with a margin wide enough to avoid the dreaded legal challenges. >> i think the president will win a convincing victory. it will be tight. >> reporter: there are armys of lawyers on stand by from both sides in case this election comes out close in ohio. back to you. >> in another crucial swing state, florida, with 11 more electoral votes. 29 up for grabs. that makes it the biggest prize of the nine swing states in play.

mary thompson is in orlando. you will have the latest. anything i have heard today i will stop you. give me the absolute latest. >> reporter: i am at the brew pub in orlando where if you wear your i voted sticker you get a free beer tonight. there has been a shift in the biggest of the swing states. right now governor romney has a slight lead over president obama who was leading in florida last summer as well as into early fall. of course, all of that is very good news for the romney campaign because a victory in florida would make it easier to collect the votes to make it to the white house. long lines. voters told cnbc they chose a candidate they feel iwill help the economy. >> i realized he doesn't have a

plan that is detailed. there has to be a plan. when i look at what has happened in the last four years i see positive indicators. >> economic policies. they are vasty superior than the vision obama has led country. >> reporter: now, both campaigns have spent a lot of time and money here. it is the second most visited state in the campaigns. they spent the most of any states. what are the keys to winning florida? according to dr. susan voter turnout. those over the age of 50 favor romney and under 50 favor obama. they may be less enthused than four years ago. where do the independent voters vote. romney holds a slight edge here. they can be the deciding factor along with the i-4 corridor.

this middle part of the state could decide who becomes the victor here in florida. the polls close at 7 eastern on the eastern part of the state. and at that time i will be back with the latest. back to you. >> did you sell them on the pub idea? if you go to florida to cover the election you have to go to a pub. was that your idea? >> reporter: my idea was the sticker idea because i have a whole sheet of them and i am going to put them all over me at the end of the night. >> she is going to disney world tomorrow. >> you are setting yourself up perfectly. thanks. have a fun and don't start slurring. too close to the action. iowa is another closely contested state. the latest polls show president obama with a slight lead over mitt romney. joining us live is iowa governor

terry branstad. thanks for joining us. it is great because in the last couple of elections before 2008 it was so close. bush won by less than a percentage point. the first bush election gore won by .3 point. but then the president who has a love fair with iowa won by nine points. what are the prospects for tonight? >> it will be a close race but i think a lot are disappointed and feel betrayed by obama because we launched him and he came here and said he would reunite the country. it was all about hope and change and how he would bring us together. instead it has been about blaming others and attacking other people and a trillion dollar deficit every year he was president. obama care is unaffordable.

iowa straightened up a financial mess in the state and they will vote for mitt romney because they feel he can bring fram spending under control. i believe he will win the state. it will be close. obama has put a lot of energy and a lot of time here but he just doesn't have the enthusiasm that i see for romney. romney is really getting big crowds. started out people were antiobama. now they are enthusiastically for romney. i think the choice of congressman paul ryan was an excellent choice and will help him in eastern iowa. >> the president won by 9.5 points in 2008. and the average now 2.4% which i guess is within the margin of error. what is the makeup in the state of republicans versus democrats? do you know offhand? >> that is the change. four years ago there were

112,000 more democrats than republicans. today there is about 4,000 more republicans. so republicans have wiped out that registration advantage. plus the independents i think are going more for romney in iowa. i see a higher level of enthusiasm. i think the republican turnout today up in northwest iowa is strong. in johnson county the voter turnout on election day is not good today. >> thank you. we appreciate you joining us on this special edition of "squawk box." we will bring in john harwood at the table and michelle caruso-cabrera. i'm hoping you can give us a little bit of a cheat sheet. as we watch this evening, what is the big surprises we should be looking at? >> governor branstad set up the

crucial surprise. the state polls that we have seen in all of the battle grounds among the nine mitt romney has a clear lead only in north carolina. president obama is leading in most of the others. romney has a slight lead in florida, as well. if branstad is right and that enthusiasm carries romney over that is a sign that some of the measurements have been off and likely voter screens have been off but in places like colorado and ohio mitt romney could do better than expected. we don't have reason to know that yet. >> there are a couple of early indicators? >> first state where polls are closing is the state of virginia. president obama carried. it was a breakthrough for president obama to carry it four years ago. both sides invested heavily in the state. shift of population up through northern virginia that are more

democrat democratic leaning. you will see the obama campaign believes they have an ever so slight lead. the last poll showed 1 point lead for the president. >> 2.4 points in iowa. are those within the margin of error? >> yes. >> it's hard to say all these things. >> the reason is that if you average statewide polls your margin of error goes way down. >> it is not within the margin. >> what is the margin of error if you measure them? >> you have to call for the technicals on when you aggregate polls together. the margin of error shrinks. the margin of error on our virginia poll was about 2.9 percentage points. if you put a bunch of polls together that number goes down. >> you have been looking at other issues beyond just the presidential race.

>> there is a lot of ballot initiatives. we have six states that will vote on marijuana in some form of fashion. three to outright legalize marijuana. let me put on my glasses. colorado, oregon and washington. >> what is the closest one? >> colorado, oregon and washington. >> which has the best chances of passing? >> it looked like colorado for sure. but then the numbers have gotten closer. it looks unlikely in oregon and possibly in washington. what kind of secondary voter does that bring out? liberal voters or the libertarian voter. >> the conservatives were young with one point. >> that's true. we have had two presidents. so -- >> colorado is the closest and

you can go down the slopes. >> in denver there are more places to buy marijuana than starbucks. >> i think it is almost legal in colorado. >> pretty much. there is one state, minnesota, that is going to vote on whether or not there should be more restrictions on medical marijuana, in other words, the doctor could only have three patients. >> is there more marijuana dealers than starbucks? >> not in my day. i heard about it. >> never inhaled. >> never exhaled. >> we have four states voting on whether or not citizens should not have to buy health insurance. >> you are going to be sticking around. still to come on this special edition of "squawk box." we will be talking about the balance of power in washington

and what it will mean from key legislation from financial regulation and taxes and spending. speaking of those economic issues we will be joined by the man once charged with officially calling a recession. marty feldstein will be talking about these issues. coming up at 5:50 eastern jim rohr. and then jim cramer will talk about how investors should play tonight's election. first check out how the major indexes finished the session. dow industrial up by 103 points. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need

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this is a special presentation of "squawk box." your money, your vote live from cnbc election head quarters. >> the balance of power in congress will be at stake in the senate and house races. democrats are narrowly expected to hold the senatet as the gop continues to control the house. breaking down the races from the legislative branch. >> both parties are trying to climb a pretty steep hill tonight. democrats hold a 51-47 edge in the senatet. there are two independents who generally vote with them. that means republicans need a net pickup of four seats to take the chamber. republicans hold majority in the house of representatives. that means the democrats need a gain of 25 seats to take the house. a few analysts expect the democrats to be able to do that

because they need 35 to 40 pickups to make up for the gains in the house of representatives. because of the tightness that leads us to a couple of interesting situations. that is maine senatet where we have angus king leading in the polls. dill does not have the support of the party there. angus king said he is not going to say which party he will caucus with. that means if we get a one vote margin into united states senate tonight angus king is going to be a literal king maker. he will decide who controls the senatet in that scenario. i called the office yesterday and they said they are absolutely adamant he will not say who he will caucus with. >> that is power.

>> when you get this 50/50 nation where it comes to that that is the power that these swing guys will have because there are so few of them left. the moderates will be able to control things. that will really impact how we see the fiscal cliff negotiations throughout the fall. >> we will check back with you a little later. >> i learned something tonight. the outcomes of the races will go a long way in deciding whether the u.s. economy hits the fiscal cliff or goes off the edge and whether buernanke will be leading the federal reserve. joining us is marty feldstein. thank you very much for joining us this evening. >> nice to be with you this evening. >> we have a lot of questions. the fiscal cliff. if we go over the fiscal cliff, if there is not an agreement before january 1 what does that mean for the economy?

>> i hope there is an agreement because it would be pretty disastrous. the congressional budget a office told us it would take 4% to 5% of gdp out of the economy. in other words we would be in a recession for sure and a deep one unless we come bouncing back t quickly. in other words, congress reverses itself after letting us go over the cliff. >> handicap what you think happened in either scenario if president obama is reelected or if governor romney is elected. >> i think in both cases there is a better than even chance we will go over the cliff. i think if president romney gets elected he will say i want to keep the tax rates as they are today. but, of course, he won't be able to do that until he gets noggierated.

so president obama i would say i am not going to give that gift to you and therefore we go over the cliff. >> what is your expectation that congress is forced to put this on the back burner until perhaps the spring or fall and what kind of impact will that have? >> i think it depends on what they say when they do it. i think a negotiation that put base broadening, some serious reform as the alternative to the current cliff would be an encouraging sign. but i think simply pushing it off would with leave us with all the uncertainty and all the worries that we have today. >> you have analyzed mitt romney's plans and you say it is possible but it would require that we raise taxes on anybody making over $100,000?

is that correct? >> if they were to be all of the tax cuts that -- let me be more accurate. what i did was analyze a particular way in which can president romney if he is elected could pay for the tax cuts that he talked about. and the particular way that i did it involved some increases in taxes on people earning more than $100,000. but there may be other ways of doing it and i haven't tried to explore that, other ways of doing it that concentrated all of the tax increases at higher income levels. >> whoever wins this election is likely going to be naming a new federal reserve head. ben bernanke is not expected by most people to stick around for a second term. 2014 that will be up. what type of person needs to be in that role with the fed taking on qe infinity?

>> it is a very challenging time for the fed. i think it is going to get worse. the danger is after 2014 as the economy comes back we are going to see inflation become a problem at the time when the fed is looking at literally trillions of dollars of excess reserves that the commercial banks have at the fed. it will be a very delicate job for the federal reserve and its new chairman to unwind that without letting inflation get out of control. >> so the type of person who needs to be in that role -- >> it has to be somebody who understands that and is committed to not letting inflation rates rise. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> good being with you. coming up democracy is sweeping over rockefeller

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this is a special election day presentation of "squawk box," your money, your vote with

rebecca quick. >> i'm becky quick. it is 5:30 on the east coast. polls in parts of indiana will be closing in less than 30 minutes. brian sullivan is at nbc's democracy plaza. we need to be watching. it has 13 electoral votes and the polls close in about 90 minutes along with south carolina, georgia and kentucky. so what is the latest on the ground? >> reporter: it's absolutely right. what we are seeing is still long lines. the polls close in 90 minutes. they are starting to handout hot chocolate as the temperature starts to dips and says everyone in line will get to vote. we have heard of long lines

throughout the morning. the state board of elections held a press conference hearing complaints of long lines in northern virginia. they say they have heard of complaints of too few voting machines. they say these are all minor and anyone in line will get to vote. of course, this state is divided by north and south. president obama, the first democrat to win virginia in over 40 years and he depended largely on northern virginia which has become more diverse, more urban than it has been. there was a huge housing boom here. condos and houses that brought a lot of d.c. and its population into the suburbs which has made it more diverse and more leaning towards the democrats. he is really relying on northern virginia. southern virginia still a conservative republican stronghold and this vote up to now is very close. both candidates spending a lot

of time and money in this state. you can see it in the neck and neck race for the senate here fighting for a seat being vacated by a democrat. that race neck and neck. people we are talking to here say what brought them to the polls here is the economy, the fiscal cliff, regulation one voter told me b. the voters told me they haven't seen long lines here before. voter turnout is higher than in 2008. a lot of folks saying they will brave the cold temperatures because they want their vote to count. >> the polls are going to be staying open later if you are in line at 7:00. we can guess it will be a longer night before anybody can call any of these things. >> reporter: it could be. if you see these lines. this line is moving relatively quickly. we have been told further south there are longer lines.

it could take possibly another hour after 7:00 to get people out of line. you will get to vote. they cut off the line at 7:00. >> thank you very much. so here is how we as part of the nbc network will keep you updated on the tally. sullivan is at democracy plaza with the map. are you wearing ice skates? >> i might put some on later because here is what we have talked about. every time the state is called i will don a red or blue cape and do five laps around the ice if security allows it. they told me no. very cool what they have done. the world famous ice rink. the entire united states of america laid out. as the states are called they are going to fill in the states with red or blue lights. that is a live shot looking down on it. you are going to hear it here first. we are going to fill the map in.

it could be a crazy night here tonight. could go long as the polls come in but we will be here and on the ice. you never know. there could be skating. anything for "squawk box" evening edition. >> we will be watching. >> he is like 6'5". do not put like a goalie mask on and start walking around. you will cause panic. >> chainsaw ready. >> are you making jokes. >> that was "friday the 13th." >> throughout the night nbc will be tracking how voters made the decisions. michelle caruso-cabrera will be breaking down the exit poll data. is it an art or science? >> it's an art. >> the study of economics you mean? >> you really can't really ask who you vote for. why are you voting?

>> we will have all kinds of data about what was the primary reason you voted today because of the economy or important policy or based on your income. >> what does it tell us? >> nothing. >> those two people in florida said i am here because of the economy. >> data says the economy was probably very close to the top. >> i'm voting for the economy and one person says i think what president obama has been doing is better for it and the other person says i think governor romney is better. it tells you nothing. >> that's why we are having an election. >> you guys join in. you don't think if the economy is a primary factor if it is not improved -- >> he was talking about with people who are unemployed 50% to

46% say they support president obama. it is a little different this time around. >> and the economy is better than four years ago. >> party affiliation. >> and age. >> if it is older. >> religious affiliation. how often you go to church. we will be able to break it down. >> do we get a concession speech by midnight? >> i will say yes, absolutely. president obama has the advantage that the economy is better than four years ago. there are two key things for romney, enthusiasm on the republican level is higher. and the independent votes have skewed towards romney which is a big draw. >> we might not get it until noon tomorrow. >> i thought you meant a winner. i translated that into a winner. >> you're not going to ask me to calculate human nature. i like facts.

>> i have not seen any exit polls yet because i'm sitting here. >> with ohio it is little different the way they check it. 47% were independent voters because the way they measure what party affiliation is different. is it the same with the exit polls or a uniform for the exit poll. >> my understanding is it is uniform. with ohio what we have seen is the disparity between republican and democrat is much, much smaller than it was. >> 23% to 29%. 23% republicans and 29% democrats. 47% independent because it is based on the last time you voted on a primary. that to me was that doesn't tell us a whole lot. >> what they would normally tend towards. >> exactly. >> we just had diana on. i was struck by the cain and

allen senatorial race. depending on who wins whether obama or romney that dictates which guy gets in the senate a lot of times. they say if kaine is ahead and governor romney takes virginia then maybe allen. the coat tail factor is under estimated. it shows what all the voters were thinking at once. >> so you have an important job. >> when they were talking about the guy in maine who doesn't want to declare -- >> very popular. >> is that right to the voters? >> if you choose the caucus you have to make a choice. >> i would like to know who he is caucusing with. >> if you are going to decide the entire makeup of the senate.

>> exactly. interesting. >> michelle caruso-cabrera, thank you for that. >> see you throughout the night. anything you see here with comments tweet us. you can do cnbc 2012. she has been on squawk before. maria bartiromo has never taken the squawk walk. on her way to the set. we will talk about the long night ahead as americans cast their votes for the next president. check out the major indexes. we had green arrows pretty much across the board. don't know what that says and people have different ways of deciding what that nnindicates. let's take a quick look at oil. crude at 88.71. we are back after this.

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welcome to the world leader in derivatives. welcome to superderivatives. this is a special presentation of "squawk box," your money, your vote. we have carrying the ball for the special coverage of this election day until 7:00 and then we will hand it over to maria bartiromo at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

you have a seat here anytime. 7-9. >> we will go 7:00 until we know who won the white house. whatever it takes. >> we will see you in the morning maybe. >> i have list here. the polls close first in virginia, vermont, north carolina. we have ohio, that is the real contested one and throughout the night. i think much of what we will know will happen by 10:00. don't you? >> when we get virginia it will be interesting. >> and a pennsylvania will be interesting. interesting to see pennsylvania all of a sudden contested. >> how long does it take to call ohio and pennsylvania? >> that is a good question. >> how virginia is already seeing more voter turnout than they had four years ago and the lines are very long in some areas and if you are online by 7:00 p.m. you will get to vote.

that makes me wonder when will they be able to say here is the final number of votes. >> i waited about an hour this morning at about 9:00 a.m. i think you make exactly the right point. it is all about voter turnout. sandy and the struggles. that is going to be the critical components here. how many turnout for romney and how many for obama. >> we were talking with with john harwood who pointed out that a lot of polls assume the democrats have an advantage of about four points because four years ago they had an advantage of seven to eight points. the question is, is that the right number? >> that is where all the doubts come on the republican party for sure. exactly. if the numbers tomorrow look really different than what we have seen in the polls thus far that is where it will come from. >> we have no power still. for a while we were going to

have to go to newark. they were going to move our local polling station. that changed. to get to my polling station i had to go through all of the detours. i finally found it but if you were inclined to say my vote doesn't matter it could be a year where it was enough of a problem where you might not show. >> i think the fewer people turn out tonight will be a positive for obama. the more people turnout it will be a positive for romney. >> last time we had a record 140 million people turn out to vote. >> is there an expectation on how many people turnout? >> it has been up in the air because of hurricane sandy. what happens once we know who the president is. that is when the work begins, fiscal cliff, foreign policy and

supreme court seats. >> the next federal reserve. >> everyone thinks their vote matters, though, i think this time because it is so close. it is a uniquely -- i felt good my kids went with my wife and were in the curtain and saw everything. scott had to stand on the side where you couldn't get close to the button. >> did you have a -- >> it was a total make shift where i voted. you had to write it down first and then scan. >> if you are in manhattan you don't need a curtain. >> the guy who was helping out said let me see your sheet. i said no. >> you have to bubble in these things like you are doing the s.a.t.s. people can see what you are doing. >> don't need a curtain in new

york. obama. >> i saw some obamas. >> thank you. 7:00. you and carl will be getting us through until we know who won. when we come back the election and the fiscal cliff, the chairman and ceo of pmc will be joining us with his advice on how to avoid the big plunge.

the fiscal cliff can't be allowed to sustain itself. we have now just driven the debt position up in the country. if the fed hadn't been buying all of the securities interest rates would be much higher. the annual deficit would be much higher. i think we can't allow that from the point of view of our children we can't allow the debt to continue. i would hope washington understands that. >> we are going to leave it there. appreciate you coming on this evening. we hope to see you in the morning one of these days soon. >> you hear the music and that could only mean one thing. jim cramer is making his way to the set. i never knew -- i heard the old

cramer say cramerica. he will have the sectors on the move. a special edition of "squawk box" after this.

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this is a special election day presentation of "squawk box." welcome back to a special edition of squawk box. we have a huge line up this hour. jim cramer is here to tell you how to position your portfolio

for all of this. we are ready to go, jim. >> i feel like it is "mad money" fe meets "squalk box". i love it. >> he is a major fundraiser for the campaign. and christietodd-whitman is here. and our cnbc reporters are here to bring you the news that impact your money. right now an update. we are going to start things off with the obama campaign in chicago. phil, he have been hearing about people coming into the headquarters there. what is the mood at this point?

>> it is far different than four years ago. there was a true sense that they were about celebrate a victory. tonight, cautious optimism. the president was here for part of the day. first playing a basketball day and also going to a phone bank and calling volunteering who have been working for him. >> hi, is this annie? this is barack obama how are you? i don't think she knows me. my name was barack obama. you know the president. but, you know can i say you were really polite to me, when you didn't know who i was. >> what would you do if you called and say hey, this is the president on the phone.

vice president by den wbiden wa delaware. he will be here tonight to watch the results with the president. when is the president going to be coming here to give a victory speech or a concession speech. that is the story here. let's go out to boston for the story with the romney headquarters and hampton pierson. moments ago, the band hit it. they started lining the first of the romney supporters for what they hope will be a victory s l celebrati celebration. mitt romney got back from ohio and pennsylvania. he had a couple of moments in pittsburgh. first, at the airport a huge crowd greeting him. he looked off, seemed to be

touched by that. said at one point looking out, that is when you know you are going to win. one of the stops along the way was at one of the volunteer centers where people were making calls on behalf of the romney ticket. he told his supporters that even when they are making call to people, they don't have to disparage the other guy. the president has run a strong campaign. he's a good frather and been a good example at well, but, it is time for a change. as we said, we are hours away from knowing any definitive result. this is the celebratory portion, but it is wait and see if you will. things get serious in 45 minutes when the polls start to close here in the east and in the

south. >> thank you. >> jim cramer predicted a big victory. jim, the other day i mentioned georgetown, villanova and the way that weird things when they happen. a lot of your analysis game from looking at what everybody was in love with and that was the tight race. you said, if ever i one believsr that, it won't be tight. >> i like that analogy. i meant, that is how i'm -- you didn't have other, there wasn't ideology involved. >> i mean look, this was about looking at it like wherever i one likes stock or thinks that the stock is close. you wsaw welch. i stopped saying exact opposite.

he said i could see a slim win for president obama but a blowout forro romney. but i think it is right to say exa exactly. but that would be a big romney win would be a big surprise. >> i will see at the summit diner. they have crow for you and turkey for me. >> if romney wins we are going to a 1% place. >> here is the way take a look at it, there are a lot of close races. in each case, it is obama by only one and obama by only three. and also, we keep hearing, my friend larry kudlow says, i think wisconsin. we never hear that there is a romney state that may actually go obama.

the guy is the president and he spent a lot of money. i'm saying what happened if a gop state actually goes for obama? >> they did last time. thank you. >> what went? iowa went 9.5%. and now it is 2.5 or something. >> yes. >> and then you look at gore and then it went for gore. it went for bush. >> iowa was one of two states that flip-flopped. in ohio, two weeks ago, the jobless rate is low because they are drilling everywhere. chesapeake came in and they were in a couple of billion dollars. if you were in ohio, and you had the good for tune to be on natural gas. he is probably not a bum. >> and maybe that is part of

like the auto parts up pliers and things as well. >> these guys, you can't get a hotel room in ohio. >> what is the market thing? >> i thought old today signaled the obama win. there are enough people that think that either guy can win. >> i have a lot of worrysome action. >> natural gas went up there for people are switching back to coal. general motors, okay. if you think, if you think that romney is going to win, he is going to dump that general motors day one and cause a trade war with china and they are going to do to gm what they did with china. you get longford and they are further along with europe.

the trade of the evening is to be short gm and long forward. >> if you think romney is your next president. >> and now if you think that obama is going to re-elect. you have to buy the hospitals because they are going to do better. >> they have run. i think they can go further. some of these there has been waffling. the biggest winner was the gain. unh has figured it out. they love obamacare. >> they would say it is -- they got some price controls.

goldman sachs was out with a report yestary day. and it could change things. a lot of stocks are owned by people with a retirement account. >> why are you pointing at me? >> i felt baby boomerish. >> i am indeed older than you. and i'm ready. i'm ready to unravel my ira. >> i call you andy rooney. >> you are not 92. >> we will both be here. >> my dad just retired. >> he retired on july 9th. said he had enough. >> enough delivering boxes and bags to retailers. >> i do believe there are lots

of stocks. if you want to play. >> give me a winner under romney. >> right. >> you want a winner? i'm going to give you cabela's. >> guns. >> they had a w eefeak quarter, guns old well. they said that the weather was too cold and cold weather would bring in shoppers. i give you cabela's well off it's high. >> the guns are like hmo's now. it might be harder to get them two or three years from now. don't forget the epa you kcan replace those guys. with people who want coal for christmas. right. you buy america light and power.

they want coal. they have the largest barge system to bring coal. don't forget, they got hurt by the coal. coal is king again, under romney. >> what about the dividend stocks? >> i think they are not going to be dumped. you have to have a scenario where bernanke is fired. we get a guy in who wants higher rate s immediately. and that is a series of things. i would be careful about the utilities. we had a storm that makes it so that every politician has figured out bash the companies. >> you got power? >> i got it sunday afternoon. >> we have none. >> and generac unbelievable. it turned on and it never turned off. >> how do you um the gold move

that you attributed to the positive obama center. how do you characterize that other than just debasing the currency? >> it is in jersey. you know look, who are the biggest givers? >> goldman, bank of america. citi bank of america will be sued less by a romney administration. >> what about defense stocks? >> the reason why lockheed martin -- you put them between china and the rest of the world. a lot of people in china seeing a lot of latorals. you need submarines. the fight was over bayonetes. the guy that comes to your door,

buy it. >> cabela's ran out of crossbows last saturday. >> they are great with zombies. >> romney favors a navy. if you go back to the 600 ship navy that reagan wanted, he made a lot of money with aircraft carriers. but they are private now. do lockheed martin with the lattoral. >> this was a mad dash for "mad money." i have other ideas. >> we need a lot of them because there is a lot of chinese to aim them at. >> it is like you are trying toen circle china. >> i get the naval publications they believe they are

underestimating the chinese threat. it is like when the 8th army crossed over and they didn't want to be their man with the tenth eye corp. the first division. no thank you. >> put our guys in a bad spot. these magazines, i'm going to have to start subscribing to. coming up. your guide to the poll closings. we'll tell you what to look for a the results come in and later we will talk to robert wolf. and he is a major fundraiser to the obama campaign. first the signal that it is an obama win, but you never know with these things a bit of a -- >> tomorrow squawk special election cuff coverage

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throughout the night, nbc is going to be tracking voters and how they made their decisions. michele, you have things that you can talk about. we have new numbers. the question, do you think things in this country today are going in the right direction or are seriously off on the wrong track? early results show voters are a bit more negative than positive,

but not by much. by the way, that is better than in polling over the summer. 46% say we are on the right direction. you can see half the country said we are headed into a economic meltdown. national mood had improved a lot. 52% say right track. will it be enough to help president obama keep his job. stay tuned, back to you. >> michele. thank you very much. too much regulation is dangerous for the economy. president obama says, if

elected, he will implement dodd frank in full force. joining us is robert wolf. former chairman of uvs americas. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> give us a sense if you could. where the members are making phone calls. there seems to be an air of confidence. they were happy with the early voting numbers. it feels to me that we are ho hoping tonight we are are goi g hoping tonight we are are gooin have a similar celebration to 2008. >> if you talk to people in the romney administration they say we are going to win.

>> the obama folks are confident that we are on the right trajectory and we need to stay the path. although very tight, we knew this was going to be a tighter election than 2008 and it seems like it is going to be that way. if you look at that program, it is about having revenues as well as entitlement reform.

it move aligns i think the ceo knows there needs to be a fiscal deal. i think you will see the private and public sector move closer together. think about how it would work. do you expect that we will solve the fiscal cliff before the end of the year? is this something that gets pushed off and if so how? >> it is tough to say that we will have a complete deal. certainly if it is $1.2 trillion over two years, you need $60 billion to get past the debt ceiling over the next six

months. and you can find $60 billion to have what i would call the time toged ready for a real deal. there are ways to go around so that you don't hit the bush tax cuts. >> thank you for joining us today. thank you for having me on. >> the polls are now closed in parts of indiana. indiana splits itself based on day light savings time. the polls closed 25 minutes ago with only one% percent of the precincts reporting. this is only one percent, it has a lot of labor unions in the area.

with one percent. mitt romney has 67% of the votes. >> you have the experience in all of these states. you have flown over them. >> thank you, very, very, much. >> jane wells. jane? >> becky. here on the las vegas strip people are looking for their own hope and change. we are going to look at that and the jobs picture in the state. next. what it all means for investors in the markets.

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welcome back. it is 6:30 p.m. though, not am. >> yeah, it is. it is we are just half an hour away from the polls closing in six states. and the polls that close in ohio, west virginia and north carolina, and then the next big wave is at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. 16 states finishing up at the polls including florida,

pennsylvania, new jersey, massachusetts and new hampshire. interesting. needed to lead the country for the next four years. you are manning the high-tech electoral map. can you show us how it works? >> i am here in the map room. let's talk about what we think we know based on the polls. start with a large block of states. >> the president can count on 185 electoral votes by his base.

new jersey and new york new england on the east coast. republican, mitt romney has a base nearly that large. north through the plains the l of consistently republican states. president obama leads in preelection polls for 51 electoral votes. romney leads for another 22. but those lead guys, each candidate leave them each short. the states left, the battlegrounds that we have been talking about more months are states carried by president obama four years ago. in the south, three big ones, polls close at 7:00 in virginia and 8:00 p.m.

in the state of iowa in ohio, the most fairly contested battleground. the polls close at 7:30. iowa at 10:00 p.m. finally, in colorado they close at 10:00. these are the places that will decide the election and. >> you don't get any sleep anymore john. i know you can handle it. >> we will see you at 5:00 am tomorrow sharp when we are here. >> i'm spending the night here, man. >> i thought i saw the mattress. >> i got a pillow too. >> living large. >> okay. >> another state to watch and one of the three swing states obama need to win this election is nevada with it's six electoral votes. the polls close at 10:00 eastern

time. jane has an update. >> reporter: actually i'm outside caesar's palace where they are filming "hangover 3". more than three quarters of the registered voters in nevada have already voted. most in early voting record. most are registered democrats. none louder than this man. >> i can't stand the idea of being put down by a president who doesn't understand by how the economy works? >> he does encourage workers to

support policies that promote a friendly business and living environment and nevada is all about the jobs right now. the unemployment rate is 11.5% down from last year and the strip is coming back slowly and the state is finally attracting new business like spreadshirt out of boston. 20% of its business was in california. it has moved in next store. >> there was plepty of open space for us to choose from and a great labor pool. we have great employees that are anxious to work for us. we are grows at 100% and we hope to have 200 people here by next year. >> while they have been the most supporting of mitt romney, the

gaming ca zone knseatbelt seen tend to support harry reid. guys, they are trying to rest control of the state here from the democrats to the gop. >> jane, they had vegas lines on some of these things. i think the early line called it for president obama i read that this morning? >> it is. but in terms of betting, it is illegal to bet on an election. that hasn't stopped these irish guys over seas for the online betting. one of them online has said that obama has won and started to pay. >> they said they have done crazy stuff for publicitpublici. and they can't get the $750 back if romney were to win.

>> you could do intrade but that is like $6 a share. >> go put it on the table. >> and i think and wynn were both democrats. he wrote a piece that said i didn't leave the party, the party left me. you have to love harry reid. he is classic. he is the classic. >> let me tell you something. the ceo of mgm reposorts is aro are. but he loves harry reid. when the lenders would not return his calls, he called harry reid and that is how you do it in vegas baby. >> they are wild about harry. >> jane wells in vegas. put $20 on bhak. i was going to say red but

people would say that would be a political statement ♪ i'm wild about harry >> throughout the night. people will be tracking how people made their decisions. >> we asked americans which is the most important decision facing the country right now. the economy with health care and the deficit trailing. digging deeper on the economy. we asked voters what is the biggest economic problem facing voting like you. 40% said rising prices with fewer saying taxes and the housing market. one of the big markets in this campaign involved questions about the proper role of government. 53% said government is doing too much. 41% said it should do more to solve problems. >> when we return, we are

getting closer to 7 pm and the first polls closing for entire states. up next, she served as governor of new jersey. christie todd-whitman will join us. >> this presentation it is your money your vote. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you?

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welcome back to a special edition of squawk box. new jersey is bracing for another nor'easter expected to hit the area tomorrow. the only positive for some of us is i've got no power to lose. nbc correspondent brian thompson joins us live with an update. good evening to you too. we have a mess in new jersey right now. i've got -- here is what is going on. you have the people who were trying to vote who were displaced by sandy. you go down the shore and into a town like monmouth beach or seabright. they can put the poll voting

where they always put it but the residents are displaced someplace else. they have to drive into town. it is kind of near sandy hook or near philadelphia and then you have the folks who live in seabright. nobody can live there right now. they are displaced and they are going to be in philly or up north and they have to drive to a polling place a few mile as way which is kind of unheard of. you usually go a few blocks away. they have to drive miles and miles away to a place they have never seen before to vote. it was heavy turnout. now here is the real mess right now. governor christie said we are going to have electronic e-mail voting like we have for soldiers

over seas we are going to open that up to all of the displaced people. but the system wasn't ready for it. i just got off the phone with essex county close to new york, and that clerk, chris durkin told me, brian, i'm not going to use the word "bad" but left it hanging there. he has over 3,000 applications by fax or by e-mail to get a ballot. he said the system can't handle it. and the deadline was 5:00 to apply and there are going to be a lot of people who aren't going to get to vote in this election. >> i thought i was going to have to go to newark but i didn't have to. i appreciate that. we wish it wasn't so, but we deal with the weather. >> yes, and it is coming again.

chris chris tri embrace iing president obama for coming to the aid of the garden state. >> she joins us now with her thoughts. governor thank you for joining us tonight. you heard that story about what a mess it is not only in terms of people who have been diz placed and had to find new place to vote, but also the e-mail and faxes that have been coming in. how should we read this? >> well, it is trying to do the best in the face of unmage imaginable circ um stances. the number of people that want to vote and are trying to vote. the people thing is kind of new. that is much more manageable. it is a different thing and that is hard. it is -- we'll sort our way

through this. the governor has gone out of his way to put up temporary places for people to vote. we had to move polling places and yet the lines were unlike anything i've ever seen. people are making the effort and that is great. you can't do a whole lot about mother nature. >> we have been looking at pictures of the devastation while you were talking. shore communities that have been hit hard. what have you seen in terms of where we stand on the recovery efforts at this point? >> it is very sem tymptom attic. my area doesn't have power yet we don't have power yet on the farm. when you have lost everything. if you can't get it back. nobody is doing enough for you.

but people have been great. i think the governor has done a good job too. fema has been there for new jersey. fema is doing things on the shore. they have done a lot. the red cross and other volunteer organizations manned by those professionals. they are all professional. everybody is pitching in and we hope that what is predicted for tomorrow is not going to be as bad as they said it was going to be. new jersey is a very blue state. i believe that president obama is going to do his best. overall, i think it is not going to change the outcome of the

election. it can have an impact afterwords on how you govern. >> did you actually come out and back mitt romney? i couldn't move you off the fence when you were on it as a result. as a woman, you had a lot of issues. what happened there? >> again, the wonderful thing about the ballot is that it is private. >> yeah, i was never asked to endorse him. they never approached me for that. but i believe that the fiscal issues are enormously important to the country and he has the best handle on that. >> the polls in part of indiana closed moments ago. this is not the entire state. part of the state goes with chicago time zones. what you are looking at now is 3% of the districts.

60% have voted for mitt romney 38% have voted for president obama again, this is only 3% of the polls in parts of the state that have actually closed. cnbc is only getting started with it's coverage of decision 2012. at 7:30 p.m. eastern, polls will also close. north carolina and the closely watched buckeye state. polls in 16 states then close at 8:00 p.m. at 9:00 p.m. polls close in two more states. at 10:00 p.m. the key state to watch are iowa and nevada. coming up next, we are going to talk about the social media buzz and courtney reagan is going to bring us the latest after this. ♪

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the social media universe is trending high and according to twitter more than seven million 2012 tweets. that is 11,000 tweets per

minute. the most mentioned words and phrases are listed. when it comes to mentioning the candidates on twitter. obama receiving more than mitt romney's mentions. and if we can continue onto what we are seeing more on facebook. we have seen that obama has gotten 63% more mentions. president obama and his staff have been apt with twitter today. the sunsets on the 2012 campaign. thank you for all of the support along the way. mitt romney is feeling confident.

one of our reporters tweets this. romney tells the traveling press he feels like a win is coming. >> thank you for joining us tonight everybody. join us tomorrow. we have a huge lineup. guys, it has been a pleasure. we will see you all tomorrow morning. now we take you to the big races and result ares and what it means for investors and the markets. squawk box tomorrow on cnbc. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers...

...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again.

well, if itmr. margin?margin. don't be modest, bob. you found a better way to pack a bowling ball. that was ups. and who called ups? you did, bob. i just asked a question. it takes a long time to pack a bowling ball. the last guy pitched more ball packers. but you... you consulted ups. you found a better way. that's logistics. that's margin. find out what else ups knows. i'll do that. you're on a roll. that's funny.

i wasn't being funny, bob. i know. oh, just diagramming this accident with my state farm pocket agent app. you can also get a quote and pay your premium with this thing. i thought state farm didn't have all those apps? where did you hear that? the internet. and you believed it? yeah. they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true. where did you hear that? [ both ] the internet. oh look. here comes my date. i met him on the internet. he's a french model. uh, bonjour.

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